Performance of an anti-scaling alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding system for heavy oil
by Fulin Yang
International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology (IJOGCT), Vol. 33, No. 2, 2023

Abstract: Alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding is one of the most effective methods for enhancing heavy oil recovery. However, for heavy oil reservoirs with high content of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ ions in the formation water, the scaling in ASP flooding affects the injection and displacing effect. In this study, a scale inhibitor containing polyaspartic acid sodium (PASP) and polyamino polyether methylene phosphonate (PAPEMP) were simultaneously applied with alkanolamide to form a scale-resistant and friendly environmental ASP flooding system, whose optimised composition is 1% NaCO₃, 0.2% alkanolamide (type '1:2'), 0.15% partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (molecular weight of 8 × 10⁶ g/mol) 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS), 0.025% scale inhibitor. This system has a better anti-scaling effect. The interfacial tension (IFT) test shows that the IFT of the ASP system and W8 crude oil can reduce to the order of 10^-3mN.m^-1 within 2 min, forming a relatively stable oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion. The addition of SDS can improve the solubility of alkanolamide, with a uniform and transparent solution. Furthermore, core flooding results showed that the oil recovery rate of the ASP flooding increased by 20%, exhibiting an obvious flooding effect, mainly due to the swept efficiency and displacement efficiency. [Received: May 19, 2022; Accepted: January 24, 2023]

Online publication date: Wed, 17-May-2023

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology (IJOGCT):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com